


Queen Crab

by TheGr8Godzilla2014



Category: Frozen (2013), Moana (2016)
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, If you don't like Frozen, Post Moana/Frozen, Slow friendship, Tamatoa being mean, Very slow Friendship, cynical crab, just give it a chance, sarcastic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-02-17 05:08:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGr8Godzilla2014/pseuds/TheGr8Godzilla2014
Summary: The last thing Tamatoa wants is help, let alone a friend-- definitely not one similar to a certain demigod. That blasted jerk (and his clever little accomplice) was the reason for his current dilemma, and his inability to get off his back after all. He especially didn't want help in the form of some whiny, prissy little blonde that thought a little ice magic made her look cooler than him. And most importantly, he didn't want to help the annoying demigoddess get out of Lalotai or at least survive the less friendly monsters that viewed her as a delicacy.As usual, Tamatoa got just what he didn't want.





	1. A Norwegian lady walks into a Crab...

"Shiny, I'm so Shiny~...like glass in the rays of the dawning sun. Oh what fun, I'm incredibly Shiny..."

Creaking and groaning came from his shell, still boredly rocking itself and finding no hope of getting upright again. Yes, his torture never did quite end; even the monsters that should be attempting to attack a big guy like him were nowhere to be for nothing bottom feeders, literally.

"Never be quite as Shiny, You were nice...and...ugh."

Tamatoa's crooning melted to halfhearted murmurs, and those into groans. The crab had lost track of the amount of time lost his surroundings, but he knew that it had to at least have been a week since he was stranded on his back like this. He hadn't the strength in him to continue berating himself for falling for a cheap knockoff of the heart of Tefiti. Or how a little mortal had tricked him. It really did irk him that no other monster in Lalotai had at least come to look at him lying there so helplessly. Maybe it was because of of his loud wailing? If he were turned over more, then he could at least attract someone via the Sparkle of his shell. Then again, he'd be upright and wouldn't need the unlucky guy or gal except for-

His large abdomen gurgled at the thought of food. Tamatoa could barely remember the taste of those fish on his tongue by now, and he yearned for another dinner. That required that someone with an actual soul come to push him back upright. It was a miracle some nightmarish beast hadn't come to scavenge his body for all his flesh and treasures. Or maybe it wasn't; maybe being attacked would be better than this hunger and boredom he felt. His eyestalks sagged low to the ground with another horrid sigh.

* * *

 

The cold water jolted her awake, but she inhaled it all in the same breath. She instantly shut her eyes again as the burning sensation blasted into her very brain and set it on fire. The sharp agony that stabbed into her skull and lungs was indescribable to say the least, but not as indescribable as her surroundings. She was definitely in water, but it was not average water; its depth seemed as deep as the ocean and yet the deeper she sank the brighter everything became. Bright pink wisps surged in the vast expanse like smoke from an unseen fire, tangling with green spirals to her right and clashing with purple spots to her left. The colors were hazy in her eyes though-it didn' take long to realize the lack of oxygen was blurring the edges of her vision.

As if luck had changed its mind on her dilemma at the last second, she broke through the very bottom of the strange sea and fell through open air. Her body soon slapped against the edges of rough dirt and palm tree leaves, leaving stinging scratch marks across her arms and legs. Her fall was finally broken by the the slope of a small hill, and when she finally rolled to a stop, the dizziness caught up to her enough to help expel the water from her insides. It hurt the most when that happened; she vomited even when there was nothing left to vomit.

"Uk." She coughed another splash of liquid with a groan, finally given enough to think. She'd just fallen out of the sky, but the sky was water. She was always taught that the sea was beneath her, would how was this so? Who taught her that? Who was she?

Oh, right.

With her name came a rush of memories, a brief flicker that revealed a small amount and not enough to explain how she got there. The last thing she could remember was her sister's face, warm and inviting...but abruptly, she was thrown here? What caused her to end up in...

"W-where am I?

The question came off more as confused than frightened, matching the expression she bore when she looked around the colorful yet moody surroundings. The sand around her was unbelievably warm despite the sun being miles and miles above water, and it contrasted with the jungle environent around her. Inhuman noises bounced off of the trees and rustled leaves around her, coming from some far animal. Towers of rock formations stood all around her due to weathering by time, and strange plant growth blossomed over almost every inch of their stony hides. Some of the plants resembled roses or other familiar flower species. Others were alien and haunting in their shapes; ingrown teeth lining the petals and dripping with something clearly acidic. Not wanting to gaze there for much longer, she looked for anything other than short mountains and stony outcrops.

A flapping sound beckoned her gaze upwards in time to spot a bird moving at great speeds far above. Only the bird seemed to be more than twice her size, had leathery wings attached to bony limbs and bore a face very similar to...bats. That can't be a bat. Bats can't grow that big. If they did, she would know and she didn't know they could grow that big. There was no way a bat could grow so large, or carry eight eyeballs on its face.

Where was she?

The woman bit her bottom lip, and tried canceling out the cacphony of sounds that was deafening by didn't know where she was, and she didn't care. There was a way out of this! There had o be. Her somewhat bewildering amnesia had caused her to forget the one way trip out of any problem related to being out of the sky. So, she guessed that the next best thing would be to see if anyone else was unfortunate enough to have fallen with her, or if some intelligent human lived here. "...H-h...?" She began. "...Hello?"

She waited patiently at first, confident that any second now she would be greeted by some friendly face and would be taken back to Arendelle, where it was safe and far away from this mildly creepy place. Then when half a minute had passed, the corners of her lips twitched down. "Hello?"

Nothing happened; nothing came down from above to pick up her from the rough dirt floor.

Breathing sharply, she frantically scanned every inch of the land around her and even the ocean for a sign above. The sand ground held nothing unusual, excluding a thin sheet of ice the more she grew woreied. Aside from the obvious silhouettes of whales, fish or sharks swimming along so peacefully...she saw nothing familiar. Nothing descending from the surface to force her back up and begin the trip back home. No indigenous life to save her from the enviroment. " Hello! Please! If there's anyone out here, I...I..."

Silence screamed at her, before a far off noise interrupted. It was a sound akin to that of a squealing boar, but the sound had been given a nasty, baritone depth to it that vibrated the leaves around her. As much as she wanted to keep trying, she had a feeling that whatever made he howling sound would find her before anyone helpful ever could. She could defend herself if necessary, but a confrontation was not on her to do list.

"Gah!"

When she checked herself for injuries, she was not very happy to discover that she was entirely nude, as evidenced by the ice sheet starting to grow out from under her body. After her arms flew to their designated spots, the darkly flustering woman rushed into the nearest cluster of fern bushes and hid in hopes that no one would be able to see her indecent form. After an internal debate, she pulled a couple of leaves from the roots. She'd never really had to make clothes before (save for a brief instance involvin ice threads) but she recalled hearing of far off ethnicities with tunics made of leaves before. If she just wrapped that part around her hips, then tucked that part there...no, not that way...there!

The skirt was fairly tight over her waist, but at least the leaves themselves weren't poisonous or rough or bug-infested. The top she had to fashion was less comfortable, but there was no way to remedy that. She'd be fine barefoot; most of the area was nothing but sand anyway.

"Hello?" It was stupid to try again, but she tried on last time anyway, and got no answer as she'd expected. With a saddened sigh, she scanned the closest parts of the area around her and settled on a spot that looked wide open and decent. Even if something were living in that direction, it wouldn't be able to hide behind any trees and surprise her. "Um...well... If anyone is actually listening...I-I'm going in this direction. Just so you know! Okay?"

Elsa took the quiet as a yes, and moved forward.

* * *

 

This was unbelievable, and worse yet: Inconceivable! he could bend his arms back enough to lift himself up a little bit, but what good was that when your shell kept catch on the ground? Tamatoa practically pounded the ground as he tried to right himself by doing a quick launching motion. It did nothing to lift him skyward long enough for momentum to do anything, and each attempt only ended with him roughly landing right back on his shell. The tenth time time he slammed his claws into the earth, it was more out of anger than it being an actual attempt. He said it before, and he'd gladly say it again--all he needed was a little, stupid _push_. The only thing he needed to get himself back on nine legs was a bit more force in the right direction. That, and maybe some food.

Then there was a skitter, and a collection of a chuckles coming from inside his cave.

His body jolted to wakefulness instantly. "Huh?!" His prayers had been answered! It was someone on their way to save him, or perhaps feed him or _both_! Tamatoa's happiness quickly deflated into suspicion as he realized that someone had intruded on his home, his humble abode--his crab cave! His claws snapped in warning and he followed that up with a short bellow: "Hey! Whoever's in there-Ya better not touch my stuff! I mean it!"

His growling spurred silence, and then the sound of wet tentacles slapping on sand. Tamatoa snarled louder when he realized just who his rescuers were; four lowlife, bottom feeding cephlapods! Cuttlefish to be exact, using their short, pudgy appendages to waddle around. The giant crab knew these four; they were always trying to sneak away some of his belongings and he'd always been able to scare them off. Today was different. Today he was vulnerable, and he could tell that they knew it.

" _Well, well, well_! Little  Toa's having trouble with his shell!" One of them jabbed a tentacle in his direction and guffawed while singing completely out of tune. " Ya little gumbo, mumbo jumbo crab! Ha Ha!"

"Hey! You'e messin' up my lyrics, ya little miscreant! if you knew how many years I've slaving over that line, you'd keep your big mouth shut!" Tamatoa swiped an offended claw at his far off bullies. Either they'd been here a week back to listen to his song or they'd heard tale from another monster. "What do you four low-life thieves want?"

"What do low-life thieves always want? Gold, tubby!" The third one said mischievously, holding up a golden crown for emphasis."And you've got a lot of it just sittin' around."

"And we were bored, so we just wanted to gloat."

He was about to say something particularly nasty to the one that called him tubby, but he soon forgot all about it. Tamatoa gasped loudly, one eye swiveling back to the cave entrance. All of his unprotected treasure could be taken, instead of being on his shell where they belonged. He shuddered to think what these cephlapod crooks would do to such all his precious belongings. "Don't you dare!" He commanded in a grave tone. It was an amazing feat; not many could look dignified while being unable to get back up from their back. "I din't get all that sweet, succulent gold and silver just for you four to haul it off! It took me centuries to get all that treasure! Centuries of scavenging and hard work! 

"Better start working then!" They all paused their laughing as the second one chortled: "Oh wait, you can't! Cuz your ol' pal Maui stranded you _again_!

In a sudden fit of rage, The crab swung his weight towards them in an effort to get up, but it did little more than briefly startle the cuttlefish. he snarled in an inhuman way, scrabbling at them with one of his pincers. Curse his his unnatural size! If he were just a litter smaller, he could get up again and have some _Cuttle-À-la-carte_. "When I get up from this spot," Venom dripping from his voice in great splotches, staining the sand with malice and hatred. "You're all dinner! I mean it! You'll be sorry if you don't put my stuff back and scram!"

After a bit of silence, he added in a quieter tone. "Pretty Please?"

* * *

Five minutes of walking didn't quite help as much as she thought it would. Elsa had since left the clearing surrounded by plant life and entered a giant world of odd plant life, littered with occasional hills or deep grooves that were easy to escape from. But there was only that; not even a single soul, which she was only half grateful for by now. Seeing some form of life would welcome, even if it was trying to take her own from her. On the bright side, it gave her a clear mind to plan her next move.

She thought back to all of the geographic books she'd had to study at age eleven, but the effort to pull something important was just impossible to do, especially since early all the books were about known continents and the nightmare she was in...well, it wasn't a continent.

Elsa hummed as she realized that she couldn' see a single mountain, which made sense given that she was in the middle of a densely packed landscape. Even when she marched up the highest hill she could find, the sight of the big pointy rocks formations eluded her. "That can' be right, there's always a mountain!" She muttered to no one in particular. "Not a single place on earth lacks a mountain! It' just not...It's...Ugh!"

"Get offa me."

Elsa gasped in surprise at first, before a hopeful smile tugged at her lips. Someone did live in this world after all! "Who's there? Can you help me? I've somehow-"

"Off now."

She pursed her lips all the interruption, placing her hands on her hips. "I beg your pardon, sir, but I'm not standing on anything but a r-- _OAW?!_ "

Her shriek was cut off the moment her backside hit the ground, forcing her to grunt from the sudden jolt of the impact and the slight pain that came with it. She was just about to say something fairly unladylike when the reason for her fall ripped the words right out of her mind and made her go slack jawed. The hill she'd been standing on turned out to be living; a living tortoise to be exact. It's gait was slow as it swiveled it's body to glare at her, easily towering over her by about ten feet or so. It looked far older than any tortoise she'd ever seen, with scaly wrinkled and grey along it's elbows and knees. The heaviest of wrinkles tugged down from it's throat, causing a great deal of wrinkles to sag on it's brow. Despite this, it somehow managed to squint accusingly at her.

" **Leave alone**." It stated plainly in an old male voice that sounded clearer than before. And much more disgruntled. " **Go now**."

The blonde closed her mouth, opened it up to say something and then closed it again. If it weren't for her witnessing her own powers bringing a snowman to life, she might've been startled enough to scream. Regardless of her abilities, it was impossible not to be speechless at the sight of an animal talking. The fact that this tortoise managed to speak, as limited as it's speech was, made her ache even more to know what this place was. Did any other talking animals exist in this place, as large as she was? Were the animals friendly enough to allow humans to coexist with them...or was there a reason for their absence here?

" **Said go.** " The animal snapped her out of her stupor, making a large stomp that made her flinch. " **Go now. Leave alone.** "

Wordlessly she scrambled backwards and rushed to the safety of a tree, where she half hid behind the truck and peeked to see what the tortoise would do. Satisfied by the distance she'd put between herself and his sleeping spot, the creature slowly shuffled back down into the earth and assumed a camouflaged position. It didn't move again.

Well, that was the last 'hill' she'd be standing on for a while, and the last thing she'd mistake for a lifeless piece of land. The woman shuddered to think what else could be a giant animal, possibly hoping that some unfortunate soul like herself happened upon them so that they could have some free meal. It was pure luck that she stood upon the back of a creature that was only mildly annoyed with her presence, and not the back of a crocodile concealed like a log.

She continued on in a direction that she hoped was south, but really had no way to be sure. The path she tread for herself carried through a more heated portion of the jungle. The air she'd been in felt like room temperature, while this air felt like something fresh from the oven. It made her humid and sweaty within a couple of minutes, but it wasn't a huge problem. After all, being able to conjure up small snow clouds had its perks for someone like her.

She didn't find the small lake herself, but she did notice by stumbling onto its slightly muddy banks. She'd taken a step over the slight cliff that outlined the entire beach, and fell face first into the mud due to how quick it all went down. She peeled herself up from the mud with disgust and wiped away as large chunk of mud from her forehead, leaving more smears on her face. She hated mud; there was no reason for mud to exist, other than to annoy those that randomnly fell into it. Not to mention disgruntled those that had long, usually clean hair.

Elsa grumbled as she stomped over to the edge of the water, already placing her feet into it's clear depths and scooping out water with her hands. She couldn't very well wash her hair, but she could rinse out a few of the connected parts of her braid. Combing out the bud in her hair and wiggling her toes deeper into the soaking mud made her sigh in content, but not happiness. It was a relief to feel just slightly clean after a whole half hour of sweating, even if it was just slightly. It reminded her of times where her boisterous sibling would wade out knee deep into a safe pond, where she would try-and fail- to catch the fish with her bare hands. A smirk lifted Elsa's as she remembered the soaking hair that went so well with her sister's frustrated scowl. It was all too easy to remember how she kicked water at her snickering older sister.

 _Laugh at me, huh?!_ She couldn't even stop herself from giggling at Elsa when she said that.  _How'd you like an early shower?!_

Elsa remembered dodging the assault with a fairly simple sidestep, shooting an impish smirk at the pig-tailed princess.  _Hey, don't throw a fit just because you can't fish. You really ought to work on yo--_

Something latched on her ankle beneath the water, sucking with unimaginably painful force.

She shrieked with a mix of surprise and pain, but that did little to help her out of the situation. Looking down into the water to see what was pulling her down revealed the horrifying image of a hollow, fleshy tube lined with teeth that weren't bent in enough to dig into her flesh but occasionally scratched her. A gurgling sound tossed bubbles up from the water; a growl that voiced it's approval of her taste. A shrill feeling rolled down her spine with ease at the sight, and the feeling of her foot being encased in something tight and scalding hot didn't help either. It had be incredibly long to be hidden beneath the muddy earth, waiting for some stupid, careless morsel to wander into it's strike zone.

She grunted and furiously huffed through clenched teeth as she tried to wrestle her leg free from the bizarre worm's mouth. It appeared to effortlessly suck downwards, swallowing her up to the pit of her knee and forcing her to her other knee.Needless to say, Elsa panicked the longer the onslaught continued. Nothing she did could even twist her leg into a different position, and she feared that this abomination of a creature would keep slurping her down until it tore her thighs from its socket. The thought made her whimper and scratch uselessly as the blubbery, sleepy skin. "S-Stop! Stop!" She pleaded, though she had a feeling somewhere in the back of her mind that this thing couldn't understand her. Perhaps it wouldn' care either. "Please, stop!"

Something erupted from her palms when she tried to pressing down from either side on the worm, just when it taken in more than half of her upper thigh. It blasted out in blue energy, sliding easily into the flesh of the creature and turning it's many veins into a glowing blue color for a few seconds. She groaned with one final push, and the creature surprisingly regurgitated her limb in it's entirety. Perhaps her magic had actually hurt it, and perhaps she had frozen it's heart-if it had one. She didn't care to think about anything else other than tearing away from the water's edge as fast as she could.

She collapsed near a large Boulder with a half controlled fall, curling into a ball and hugging her saliva soaked leg with shaking arms. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be here at all-that _thing_ would have _killed_ her if she hadn't been cursed with these powers. She'd have died here in this forsaken Tartarus, eaten as if she was just another animal...as if she was just prey. No one would know where she'd gone, and they'd never find her body and she didn't want to die here and Anna...

Anna.

 _Stop crying. You didn't get where you are by sobbing_. A voice harshly said in her brain, somehow cutting off the stinging that attacked her eyes. She sniffled as she listened to the voice; it was the same one that chastised her all those years ago, for not concealing her feelings instead of letting her emotions run free. She didn't like the way the voice spoke to her sometimes.  _You won't get back to Anna that way, either. You survived, and with your powers, you'll keep surviving._

It wasn't easy to completely steel herself, but eventually her face melted into her usual composed look. No amount of calm could get the image of the monster worm out of her thoughts, of course. She guessed that staying so close to the lake was a bad idea too, in the event that the creature decided to have another go at it's prey and burrowed it's way over to where she was curled up.Shuddering just once, she scrambling to her feet winced at the slight throb her ankle had when she put weight on it. After hobbling reluctantly away from the beach, Elsa found herself back in the jungle that she started with. traveling north hadn't been such an amazing idea in the long run, so heading south could be a better option--Logically, it would be a warmer spot to rest in as well. But something stopped her before she could really begin that direction.

"Hey, put that down! That's my golden dinglehopper! You know how hard it was to strike a deal with that mermaid?!"

A _voice_. Someone actually speaking.

"Huh?"

She whirled towards the voice with a surprised start. "Hello?" It was almost too good to believe, but she could hear more ranting and snarling words to her left. It sounded far off, but not so far that she wouldn't be able to make it if she hurried. Adrenaline from her recent encounter spurred her on over sharp tree roots and small stones, stinging and pounding her pristine soles as she pranced over them. It wouldn't matter when she found the owner of the voice. It didn't sound like the tortoise, and it was far too fluent to be anything other than a human being. She'd just find the man and explain what happened, which would lead to her hasty escape from this place and back to her home. Back to her sister, more importantly.

A leap over a particularly high root made her stumble, but she recovered with a hopeful surge in her heartbeat. She could hear whoever was talking much clearer now, and while it seemed strange that one person could be so loud, she didn't really question it. "Hey! Can anyone hear me?! I'm right here! I..."

Elsa skidded to the quickest halt in history when she burst out of the crammed, densely packed bushes and onto warm sand that gave way slightly underneath her modest weight. Her eyes widened to the size of the moon itself.

The fifty foot tall crab mimicked her actions when it's eyes swiveled around to face her.


	2. The Danger of a Decapod

Another human; The second one to invade since the last?! Lalotai was losing it's touch if all these tiny little mortals were showing up at random like this. The realm of monsters was supposed to be a feared place, where the darkest nightmares lived and roamed care-free(him included). Mortals wouldn't have dared to come here for the greatest treasures and riches...although, Demigods were apparently persuasive. But there was no Maui to be seen or scented this time, and the human before him was...different.   
  
For one, her complexion was ridiculously pale compared to the humans he'd seen over his long life span. Too pale to be from any of the islands near and far from Lalotai, too pale not to just stare for a moment.. Her skin almost looked pink from the humidity of Lalotai, but his antenna could sense that she was abnormally cold for a human. When he was going to eat that younger one, she was pulsing with tasty warmth. This one was more like...Ice cream if he could choose anything to compare her freezing aura to. Ice cream with a large silver braid and a sparkling outfit that mimicked the clothing designs of the human type he was familiar with. His eyes focused more on the threading for the clothes, noting how each little string sparkled in the sunlight. Strange complexion or not, this one had a thing for theatrics and looking good body-wise. Boy could he relate.   
  
"Yo, check this out." Tamatoa suddenly remembered that he was being harassed by the cuttlefish, though their attention was now focused on this odd mortal. "It's a mortal! You don' see one'a those everyday, boys."   
  
It didn't seem possible for the mortal's eyes to widen, but they did. Clearly she hadn't heard of monsters, or else she wouldn't be staring so intensely. "You're talking." She said quietly, pretty much to herself.   
  
Astute observation. Was what he wanted to say to the blonde, but he suddenly stopped himself with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. Females were almost always sympathetic towards animals in need, and maybe the woman wouldn't be so different if he conveyed enough distress through actions. He jabbed a claw at the cuttlefish with a whine. "Help! They were gonna eat me while...uh, I lay here in this defenseless state! Oh, woe is me! It wasn' the most convincing sentence he'd ever given, but it was a spur of the moment thing.   
  
While his brief little whimper seemed to draw a sympathetic and worried expression on her pretty features, the cuttlefish didn't' seem to care much for his theatrics. They chuckled amongst each other. "Ha! Tamatoa needs help from a mortal-a female one! What a laugh!"   
  
One of them gave her the same look Tamatoa gave the fish from his ceiling at dinner time and advanced forward calmly. "She looks a little scrawny and pasty for my tastes, but she'd do for a good appetizer,boys!"   
  
Tamatoa squinted at them in surprise and offense; did they plan on eating him later?!   
  
The blonde woman took a wary step back, her hands half raised in obvious alarm. Her blue eyes held a nervous sort of fear, heightened by the threats walking toward her. "Stay back!I mean it; keep your distance! When they only continued towards her, the woman suddenly sucked in a deep breath. She exhaled the breath calmly and gestured in a small brushing motion just above their heads. The crab blinked a few times, dumbfounded.   
  
Is she trying to swat them off? Rats, she must be a dumb one. Guess I can at least watch them ea...Whatthe-   
  
Ice-actual ice-bloomed from the front of her toes like a thin flower, flowing out in a jagged circle. It grew with the encouraging sweeps of her hand in the air, and Tamatoa felt his breath leave him in mild shock. The ice hardened over the warm sand ground and then arced upwards into a few points of sharp crystals. Where he was moreso impressed by the sudden display of powers, the cuttlefish were horrified. It didn't take long for them to scatter like cockroaches, ranting and shrieking about a Demigodess.   
  
He frowned at that thought. Demigodess? Perhaps, though he'd never seen or heard tale of a Demigodess before...just the male version, like Maui. But if her title was something akin to Demigodess of Winter, it would make a little sense. After all, her silver hair and pale complexion resembled the colors of winter and went perfectly with her icy powers. It didn't explain how she was unfamilar, or what she was doing in a place that even gods disliked, though.   
  
This also complicated his original plan, which was just to eat her when she got close enough to grab. He had enough experience to know that prey under the influence of fear could suddenly fight back; he wanted to be a coconut crab, not a snow crab. Even if she didn't turn on him with her abilities, she could just run off and leave him back where he started if he was too scary...unless...   
  
Tamatoa looked down on her as he exited his thoughts. The woman was staring at him with the same studying, curious expression and halfheartedly melting the ice sheet below him. Fearing that things could end up in awkward silence, The crab smiled the most friendly smile he could and hoped that his barnacle infested teeth weren't too noticeable.   
  
"Oh, thank you, Kind Demigod! You've saved me from those horrid things!" Tamatoa said with faux gratefulness. He desperately hoped she was stupid, because his acting skills needed tuning. "I'd hug you if I weren't in this position! Heh heh!"   
  
More silence and odd stares. Usually, he wouldn't mind so much attention, but he needed some kind of reaction to work with. "So!" He began, his voice dripping with sarcastic cheerfulness. "I'm Tamatoa! What's your name?"   
  
The woman slowly raised from a tensed position, but didn't do anything more than stare for a long while. He fought to keep his eye from twitching just long enough for her to finally speak to him. "Tamatoa? Hmm, that's a...very interesting name." She offered as politely as possible. A forced, uncertain grin displayed her pearly whites, tiny compared to his own. "But I'm actually not a...a demigod, as you said. I'm just a regular human. The rest is a bit complicated, I'm afraid." She paused and then blinked as if she remembered something else in her etiquette."oh, and I'm Que... Elsa. It's a...pleasure to make your acquaintance."   
  
"Likewise." Well, he wasn't lying entirely; He was very pleased to know his snack before he ate. Yet, there was something she was hiding about her name, something that bugged him...Oh, if only he were upright! If he were back on his nine legs, he would be going for the ol' ambush and snatch routine he'd used on humans before. Ah, those were the good old days, when your menu didn't consist of just fish, fish and more fish.   
  
"How did you end up on your back," The woman inquired curiously and cautiously. "If you don't mind me asking?"   
  
Tamatoa shrugged as best as he could from his position. "A very clumsy mistake on my part. Seeing I walked right into one of those geysers when I wasn't paying attention. " He clicked a pincer in the direction of the long-since-dead geyser. "It flipped me over and I've been stuck here ever since."   
  
"How long ago was that?"   
  
That was a good question. He'd lost count after the first two weeks. "About four weeks now, I guess."   
  
Her next question came out carefully, the way one would talk if you weren't trying to offend someone. "Have you...eaten anything while you were on your back?"   
  
Uh oh.   
  
The crab steeled himself and kept his expression friendly for the sake of keeping her where she was. Just one slip up and she'd deem him a threat and run away before he could eat. "Uh...no, unfortunately. All of the vegetables that I forage for are...over there! So I can't reach them. " He responded nervously, grinning perhaps a little too widely. "Did I mention I was vegetarian? I'm totally vegetarian."   
  
Elsa frowned at him worriedly and took a step back, eyes darting for a way around him. Drat- she must be suspecting his false claims. Time to for the last resort.   
  
He held up his claws in a non-threatening gesture. The movement delayed her from making another step backwards, so he spoke fast. "Wait! You,uh...You wouldn't leave a poor, helpless animal to rot on his back, would you? All I need is a little push. Just a teensy one."   
  
Elsa stopped and reluctantly glanced over his trapped condition, her lips drawing into more of a grimace as she looked him over. Tamatoa fought to keep his face sad; he knew he'd just struck a good blow at her emotions and if her face was anything to go by, she had a lot of emotion to spare. Her face continued to melt into sympathy and other weak emotions that he never would've dared to show for anyone.   
  
The blonde exhaled through her nose calmly and took a few steps toward the crab. Her pretty blue eyes found his anxiously. "I think I can get you back on your...erm, feet." After that verbal stumble, she continued. "I'm not going to make assumptions based on your size, but...do you promise not to hurt me if I help you up?   
  
Tamatoa grinned his widest. "Of course. Why would I ever want to do that?"

* * *

  
  
Something wasn't right about the crab's smile, but she couldn't quite place it. Maybe it was the depth of his grin: displaying his banana colored teeth riddled with aged barnacles and a faint odor? Perhaps it was the size of his smile and how it seemed to be stretched too wide to be genuine? It could have been the ghost of a glint in his eye, a sliver in his seemingly harmless gaze that betrayed his true intentions.   
  
But she couldn't see what seemed off, and the thought of leaving the large animal there was out of the question by now. Perhaps he could assist her with directions of the way out, or at least where she was. "I..." She settled from a small shrug when he asked why he would ever want to hurt her. "...I guess I'm just paranoid, given what I've seen in this horrible place. Just one moment, if you please."   
  
Thinking about how best to get him off his back, the woman looked over his impressive size. He was big...too big for another Marshmallow to push him upright. No, she needed something with the hardness of ice to strengthen the force. A thought popped up in her head, pulled from a good memory in her fairly short childhood, and she smiled softly at the crab. "I think I have an idea. "   
  
Inquisitively, and perhaps a bit feverishly, The crab waited.   
  
Elsa stamped her bare foot down in the warm sand, then followed that movement with a push of her arms into the air, as though she were lifting a heavy load. Towers of ice began to crawl from the ground underneath his shell, pressing upwards with a great strain. Though bits of the ice crackled under his massive weight and threatened to break entirely, she managed to push the startled creature into the air little by little. She had him balanced on the edge of his shell and he wiggled himself down with the help of gravity. The crab landed on nine legs, the last one appearing to be...injured. Elsa didn't' want to ask about that right now; the crab seemed too happy to be on his feet again, so to speak.   
  
"There's no need for thanks!" She explained sincerely, taking a step forward with the intent of asking him where she was. The sooner she found the exit, the better. "But, if you don't mind, perhaps yo-"   
  
It all happened so fast.   
  
One minute he was testing his leg strength and the next he was lunging for her with an open claw. Even if she hadn't been so startled, she'd never have been able to dodge those gigantic pincers. She gasped belatedly as they closed around her sides and pressed tightly into her ribcage. She was lifted swiftly to the height of his enormous eyestalks, now glinting with malice and a crazed hunger.

 

“Oh, I but I  _ must _ thank you! Without you, I would have been stuck on my back,” He chuckled darkly at Elsa. “And I would have gone hungry.”

  
_ What?! He's going to eat me?!  _ Elsa gasped in fear and struggled against the claw pressing in tightly, which only made things worse. She winced as she felt her ribs bending in from the tightened claw and her struggling reluctantly died down. "Y-You can't eat me! I helped you! I--"

 

"Sorry, normally I'd love to talk and give you more time to think of an escape...but I'm really hungry!" He winked at her cruelly and held her up higher. "Try not to kick going down, eh?"

 

Elsa was suddenly in free fall, and his mouth cut off her scream before it could come out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Hope you like my cliffhanger!


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